Education writer lauds successes of Community School concept at Auer Avenue School

In a column in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, education reporter Alan J. Borsuk this weekend highlights the impressive progress being made at Milwaukee’s Auer Avenue School, a high-poverty inner city public school that has successfully implemented the Community School concept.

“Is there a long way to go? Yes,” Borsuk writes. “Is it going to take sustained and well-executed work to make big progress? Yes. But, in a morning at the school one day last week, what I believe I saw growing there was the kind of school culture — energized, focused, positive, committed — that, even in demanding circumstances, can move a school and its students forward in big ways.”

Auer Avenue is one of four Community Schools as a part of the Milwaukee Community Schools Partnership. It is a Milwaukee Public School, not a charter or voucher school. And it has not been “taken over” under a new state law that gives the Milwaukee County executive power to take schools away from MPS and turn them over to outside operators (although it has been mentioned as a possible target of that law).

Borsuk writes about how the Community School concept works:

A pillar of the concept is that kids in high-poverty neighborhoods have a lot of needs outside of school that are unmet or inadequately met. Basic health care. Dental care. Eye tests and glasses. Clothes and food and help to stabilize home life. Make the school a center for improving these, the concept goes, and you improve success in school.

A second pillar calls for warm connections between a school and its surrounding community.

There’s a lot of work being done on both of those things at Auer Avenue. A partial list: There’s a Children Hospital nurse stationed at the school. United Way is paying the salary of an employee who works on community partnerships. The COA youth center adjacent to the school is a close ally. There’s a new parent council. There’s a new school leadership team that meets regularly and includes community members, students, and parents, as well as people from service agencies and, of course, school leaders. The school has introduced some “restorative justice” practices aimed at improving the way people in the building treat each other.

And, most importantly, he points out, these efforts have resulted in improvements in achievement, enrollment and attendance at Auer.

“Show me a school serving high-poverty students that is doing at least comparatively well and I’ll show you a place where the intangible element of ‘school culture’ is impressive,” Borsuk concludes. “I hope and I think I saw such a culture forming at Auer Avenue.

“Go get ’em, everybody. The kids and the city will be in your debt.”

Read the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article:

There’s a surge of new programs at Auer Avenue Community School, and there are some positive results. People within the school, in the Milwaukee Public Schools administration, in the immediate neighborhood, and in the broader community are joining together to support the school and improve the lives and academic success of the children who go there.

Latest News

Wisconsin High School Teacher of the Year – and WEAC Region 7 member – Sarahí Monterrey joined dozens of other state teachers of the year and hundreds of NEA members last weekend for the “Teach-In for Freedom,” an all-day event organized by Teachers Against Child Detention (TACD) to protest the inhumane detention of children at the Mexican border and the criminalization of immigrant families. “The Teach-In in El Paso was a powerful experience because teachers were united to be a voice for the over 10,000 children who are in detention centers across our country,” Monterrey told weac.org. “This was not a protest but rather an opportunity to educate the public about immigration policies and the effects of these policies on children.”

The GOP tax bill has made its way to Governor Tony Evers’ desk, but is drawing opposition from the governor and others. Also, Governor Evers this week unveiled a plan for $70 million in clean water initiatives and another plan to ensure access to dental health care. It’s expected that we’ll hear more about his health care plans next week, and other bits and pieces of the budget he’ll hint to leading up to the budget unveiling on February 28. You can expect the budget rollout to last a few weeks into March – so stay tuned for opportunities to turn out to support public school funding as the governor makes the rounds across Wisconsin. We’ll likely also see some more listening sessions, in addition to the Joint Finance Committee hearings.

The D.C. Everest Teachers’ Association has shaken up the status quo and is focusing on a new set of “clear directions and goals.” That’s what DCETA leaders told WEAC Vice President Peggy Wirtz-Olsen for her latest Spotlight on Locals column. “We ask our colleagues to become a part of something,” said DCETA President Marie Wardall. “We show our members and our potential members our list of accomplishments, and we demonstrate why union membership matters to them.”

Waupun fifth-grade teacher Kathy Calder, a WEAC Region 5 member, believes business education should not be reserved just for older students. “An introduction to entrepreneurship at a young age will help students understand how to start a business and possibly spark an interest in future business ownership,” she says in an article in the Beaver Dam Daily Citizen and WISC News.

The Watertown School District is recognizing WEAC members Pam and Tim Suski for their work with the “Discipline with Dignity” program that has demonstrated success through compassion and high expectations. “We want to provide positive support and high expectations for both academics and behavior,” the Suskis say. “Through this program we show that we believe in them and expect excellent behavior — because they are capable of it.”

Congratulations to Shorewood teacher Angela Hayes, the latest winner of our WEAC Badger Red for Public Ed promotion! The honor goes to WEAC members in appreciation for their dedication to students. Recipients are treated to a UW Badger athletic event. Angela will get VIP treatment at the February 18 UW Badger basketball game against Illinois at the Kohl Center in Madison.